Thanks to the phone calls of concerned residents and the speedy response of Salem police, a female hawk was rescued from certain doom and is on her way to recovery.

The red-tailed hawk was reported Wednesday afternoon sitting in a traffic lane of Highway 22 in West Salem. Police were able to keep traffic diverted until a volunteer from Turtle Ridge Wildlife Center could pick the bird up.

As of Thursday afternoon the bird was resting comfortably at the center and showing every indication of making a full recovery.

“When it first came in, it was super feisty, which is a great sign,” said Jessy Gill, development director at the center. “She had quite a bit of road rash on her feet, so we applied some topical solution that’s a pain reliever. She did suffer a bad head injury; she had a swollen eye and was bleeding out of her nostrils, which is very common with head injuries.”

Because of those signs, Gill said, staffers are confident that she was hit by a car.

“There’s no way she would have been able to survive in the wild,” she said. “If she hadn’t been able to catch food and eat, she would have started dropping weight.”

The hawk will remain at the center a while longer. Gill said they’re still concerned about internal bleeding, but in a best-case scenario, the hawk could be able to return to the wild in two to three weeks.

“We want to get her out of here as soon as possible,” she said. “They’re getting ready to breed. Hawks mate for life, so we’re sure she has a mate out there.”

Gill emphasized how grateful the staff were not only to the people who reported the injured bird, but also to Salem police for making it easy for Turtle Ridge to rescue her.

“That’s what we do is take care of these guys,” she said. “We’re willing to go out there, we just need those calls.”